Photographs

by Alfred Corn

Aaron Rose has created one of the most remarkable bodies of work of any photographer living today, and for most of his career he did this in isolation, in a single-minded quest for visual enlightenment. He was virtually unknown to the photography world until five of his prints were exhibited at the 1997 Whitney Biennial, when he was in his late fifties.

Rose's images -- completely original visions of trees and plants; sun, stars, and clouds; shells; the New York City skyline -- are miracles of light and chemistry. A magician who builds his own cameras and mixes complex developing solutions incorporating exotic metals, Rose has spent the last 35 years taking and superbly printing more than 25,000 photographs, most of them from negatives that he printed once or twice and then put away forever. This book offers the first-ever presentation of Rose's work, which has been quietly collected by major museums over the past few years, as well as a vivid portrait of the man himself, speaking to author Alfred Corn about photography, science, art, and commitment.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Alfred Corn was born in Bainbridge, Georgia, in 1943. He grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, and received his B.A. in French literature from Emory University in 1965. He was awarded an M.A. in French literature from Columbia University in 1967, his degree work including a year spent in Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship and two years of teaching in the French Department at Columbia College.

His first book of poems, All Roads at Once, appeared in 1976, followed by A Call in the Midst of the Crowd (1978), The Various Light (1980), Notes from a Child of Paradise (1984), The West Door (1988), and Autobiographies (1992). His seventh book of poems, titled Present, appeared in 1997, along with the novel Part of His Story. Stake: Selected Poems, 1972-1992, appeared in 1999, followed by Contradictions in 2002, which was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award.

Corn has also published a collection of critical essays titled The Metamorphoses of Metaphor (1989), The Poem’s Heartbeat (1997), and a work of art criticism, Aaron Rose Photographs (Abrams, 2001). A frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and The Nation, he also writes art criticism for Art in America and ARTnews magazines.

Corn has received fellowships and prizes from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Academy of American Poets, and the Levinson Prize from Poetry magazine.

He has taught at the City University of New York, Yale, Connecticut College, the University of Cincinnati, U.C.L.A., Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Tulsa.

Reviews

[Douglas Florian · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a detailed and historical essay entitled "the perpetuity of light," by author Alfred Corn, we are introduced to unique and wondrous photographs of Aaron Rose. A recluse from the art world for many years, refusing to show his body of work numbering more than 25,000 superb prints, Aaron Rose finally gained recognition in his late fifties when his photographs were shown at the 1997 Whitney Biennial, and later at the Paul Kasmin Gallery. With his vast knowledge of the history of photography and optics and his use of solarization and other techniques, Rose was able to see magic in the everyday world, an alchemist of physics and chemistry.
I especially loved reading the interview Corn had with Rose. It revealed his challenging life, raised at the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum and various foster homes, then "spent a good deal of time wandering freely about the city," from the age of fourteen, as well as his personal philosophies and knowledge of the optics of photography.

[Michelle now at StoryGraph · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photographs in this book are ethereal, haunting, beautiful. As I explore the world of abstract photography, I've noticed that there aren't too many full-sized books available to peruse for inspiration or direction. I'm lucky to have stumbled upon this book at the library, and am amazed to learn more about this photographer's pursuit of this art from in its purest form. I scoured the internet looking for more information about Aaron Rose but didn't find much. If you're still out there, thank you for sharing some of your images with the world, along with the wonderful question and answer session at the end of the book with the author. I only hope that as I grow as a photographer, I can worry less about approval from the outside world, and spend more time concentrating on the act of creating art, instead.

[Joshlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit he's the jandek of photography